A multitude of laboratory tests for analytes of interest are performed on biological samples for diagnosis, screening, disease staging, forensic analysis, pregnancy testing, drug testing, and other reasons. While a few qualitative tests, such as pregnancy tests, have been reduced to simple kits for the patient's home use, the majority of quantitative tests still require the expertise of trained technicians in a laboratory setting using sophisticated instruments. Laboratory testing increases the cost of analysis and delays the results. In many circumstances, delay can be detrimental to a patient's condition or prognosis, such as for example the analysis of markers indicating of myocardial infarction. In these critical situations and others, it would be advantageous to be able to perform such analyses at the point of care, accurately, inexpensively, and with a minimum of delay.
A disposable sensing device for measuring analytes in a sample of blood is disclosed by Lauks in U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,669. Other devices are disclosed by Davis et al. in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,628,961 and 5,447,440 for a clotting time. The disclosed apparatuses comprise reading apparatus and a cartridge which fits into the reading apparatus for the purpose of measuring analyte concentrations and viscosity changes in a sample of blood as a function of time. A potential problem with disposable devices is variability of fluid test parameters from cartridge to cartridge due to manufacturing tolerances or machine wear. Zelin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,821,399 discloses methods to overcome this problem using automatic flow compensation controlled by a reading apparatus using conductimetric sensors located within a cartridge. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,096,669, 5,628,961, 5,447,440, and 5,821,399 are hereby incorporated in their respective entireties by reference.
Antibodies are extensively used in the analysis of biological analytes. For a review of basic principles see Eddowes, Biosensors 3:1-15, 1987. While in all such applications an antibody provides analyte binding specificity, a variety of different analytical approaches have been employed to detect, either directly or indirectly, the binding of an antibody to its analyte. Various alternative assay formats (other than those used in typical research laboratories, such as Western blotting) have been adopted for quantitative immunoassay, which are distinguished from qualitative immunoassay kits, such as pregnancy testing kits. As an example of antibody use, Ligler, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,183,740 disclosed a flow-through immunosensor device comprising a column loaded with particles coated with an antibody bound to a labeled antigen. When a sample is flowed through the column, unlabeled antigen displaces labeled antigen which then flows to a detector. In an alternative approach, Giaever, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,886 discloses the use of magnetic particles coated with an antibody, which are first magnetically circulated in a sample to accelerate binding of the analyte, then concentrated in a small volume, and finally the antibody-antigen complex is cleaved from the bead to yield a concentrated solution of the complex. U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,484 to Swanson discloses a method in which a fluid-permeable solid medium has reaction zones through which a sample flows. A reactant that is capable of reaction with the analyte is bound to the solid medium in a zone. A localized, detectable product is produced in the zone when analyte is present. In a similar concept, U.S. Pat. No. 5,807,752 to Brizgys discloses a test system in which a solid phase is impregnated with a receptor for an analyte of interest. A second analyte-binding partner attached to a spectroscopically-determinable label and a blocking agent is introduced, and the spatial distribution of the label is measured. Spectroscopic measurements require a light transducer, typically a photomultiplier, phototransistor, or photodiode, and associated optics that may be bulky or expensive, and are not required in electrochemical methods, in which an electrical signal is produced directly.
Because a quantitative immunoassay typically requires multiple steps (eg. a binding step followed by a rinse step with a solution that may or may not contain a second reagent), most of the foregoing methods are either operated manually, or require bulky machinery with complex fluidics. An example of the latter approach is provided in U.S. Pat. No. 5,201,851 which discloses methods providing complex fluidics for very small volumes on a planar surface. This method is used, for example, in the Biacore system (Pharmacia) which is housed in a bench-top instrument and uses surface plasmon resonance to detect binding of macromolecules to an immobilized receptor on a surface. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,242,828 and 5,313,264.
The foregoing references disclose optical means for detecting the binding of an analyte to a receptor. Electrochemical detection, in which binding of an analyte directly or indirectly causes a change in the activity of an electroactive species adjacent to an electrode, has also been applied to immunoassay. For a review of electrochemical immunoassay, see: Laurell et al., Methods in Enzymology, vol. 73, “Electroimmunoassay”, Academic Press, New York, 339, 340, 346-348 (1981). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,526 discloses a method for detecting an analyte that is electroactive. An electrode poised at an appropriate electrochemical potential is coated with an antibody to the analyte. When the electroactive analyte binds to the antibody, a current flows at the electrode. This approach is restricted in the analytes that can be detected; only those analytes that have electrochemical midpoint potentials within a range that does not cause the electrode to perform non-specific oxidation or reduction of other species present in the sample by the electrode. The range of analytes that may be determined is extended by the method disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,959, which is based upon enzymatic conversion of a non-mediator to a mediator. Application of the aforementioned invention to sandwich immunoassays, where a second antibody is labeled with an enzyme capable of producing mediator from a suitable substrate, means that the method can be used to determine electroinactive analytes.
Other electrical properties have also been employed in analyte sensors. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,334,850 and 4,916,075 to Malmros disclose a polyacetylene film comprising an element whose electrical resistance varies in response to the presence of an analyte. Electric field effects are exploited in U.S. Pat. No. 4,238,757 to Schenck, where a field-effect transistor (FET) immunosensor is disclosed. An immunoassay based upon the use of an analyte labeled with a particle that affects the electrical reactance of an electrode is disclosed by Pace in U.S. Pat. No. 4,233,144. It will be apparent from these descriptions, that in each of the foregoing examples where other electrical properties are employed, the existence or magnitude of the required electrical property change may be different for each analyte. Therefore, there exists a need for assay techniques that can be automated and applied to diverse analytes to create assays with substantially uniform characteristics independent of specific characteristics of individual analyte species.
Microfabrication techniques (eg. photolithography and plasma deposition) are attractive for construction of multilayered sensor structures in confined spaces. Methods for microfabrication of electrochemical immunosensors, for example on silicon substrates, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,200,051 to Cozette et al., which is hereby incorporated in its entirety by reference. These include dispensing methods, methods for attaching biological reagent, e.g. antibodies, to surfaces including photoformed layers and microparticle latexes, and methods for performing electrochemical assays.
In an electrochemical immunosensor, the binding of an analyte to its cognate antibody produces a change in the activity of an electroactive species at an electrode that is poised at a suitable electrochemical potential to cause oxidation or reduction of the electroactive species. There are many arrangements for meeting these conditions. For example, electroactive species may be attached directly to an analyte (see above), or the antibody may be covalently attached to an enzyme that either produces an electroactive species from an electroinactive substrate, or destroys an electroactive substrate. See, M. J. Green (1987) Philos. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B. Biol. Sci. 316:135-142, for a review of electrochemical immunosensors.
Therefore, there exists within the field of analyte sensing, and in particular for applications in which analytes must be determined within biological samples such as blood, a need for apparatus that can rapidly and simply determine analytes at the point-of-care, and can be performed by less highly trained staff than is possible for conventional laboratory-based testing. Frequently, it would be of benefit in the diagnosis and treatment of critical medical conditions for the attending physician or nurse to be able to obtain clinical test results without delay. Furthermore, an improved apparatus should be adaptable to determination of a range of analytes and capable of single-use so that immediate disposal of the sample after testing minimizes the risk of biological or chemical contamination. These and other needs are met by the present invention as will become clear to one of skill in the art to which the invention pertains upon reading the following disclosure.